Elevator



H. EIGHBAUM. ELEVATOR.

No. 498,971. PatntedJune 6, 1893.y

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

HENRY EIOHBAUM, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORIQASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO GEORGE MAITLAND, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

ELEVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 498,971, dated .Tune v6, 1893..

Application filed August 5, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

t Be it known that I, HENRY EICHBAUM, of

. Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

The object I have in view is to produce an apparatus simple in construction, certain and direct in its action and durable in use, for controlling from a moving elevator car the machinery for raising and lowering such car.

My object is to provide a substitute for the ordinary controlling rope, and in doing so to avoid the use of ropes and levers which are uncertain and indirect p in their action and form an apparatus of considerable complication;

In'fcarrying out my invention I employ a hand lever or equivalent hand operated device on the car, and which operates one or more pistons, diaphragms or equivalent devices acting to transmit power from the lever through counter-balancing liquid columns contained by flexible pipes hanging from the car and connected at the center of the shaft or well with ordinary metal pipes leading to similar or equivalent pistons or diaphragms with which are connected a valve, clutch or other device controlling the machinery driving the elevator.

My invention consists in the various novel devices and combinations of parts employed in my controlling apparatus, as hereinafter explained and pointed out by the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, Figure l, is an elevation showing the elevator shaft and car and the hydraulic controlling apparatus; Fig. 2, a section 011 a larger scale of the compression chambers on the car showing a spring connection with hand lever; Fig. 3, a section view of the coupling at each end of the flexible tubing; and Fig. 4, a cross section of the flexible tubing.

A is the elevator car which is shown in Fig. l in full lines at the top of the shaft or well, and in dotted lines at the bottom of the shaft.

Supported by the car A in any suitable way but preferably beneath its floor, are two compression chambers B, C. These are collapsible and expansible chambers of cylindrical form made each of rubber or rubber cloth like Serial No. 246,177. (No model.)

a pair of bellows, as shown, and attached to movable and stationary heads ct h. The heads l) are attached to and held stationary by the supporting frame, while the movable heads a are con nectedby a bar D, with which is connected the short end of a pivoted hand lever E. The effect of swinging the hand lever laterally, it will be seen,will be to compress and expand the chambers B, C.

From the stationary heads b of the compression chambers B, O, extend two pipes c d which are coupled liquid tight with two flexible rubber tubes F, G. These are semi-circular tubes as shown in Fig. 4, which are brought together on their flat sides and are inclosed by a flexible covering H which protects them from mechanical injury and produces in appearance a single tube. The flexible tubes F G extend to the center of the elevator shaft or well, where they are connected by a coupling similar to that at the car, with two metal pipes l, K, which extend to the elevator driving machinery. There the pipesl K are connected to the stationary heads of two compression. chambers L M similar to the compression chambers B, C. The movable heads of the chambers L M are connected bya bar N similar to the bar D, which swings a pivoted lever N which latter is connected with and moves the primary controlling element of the elevator driving machine. This primary controlling element may be the throttle valve of a steam engine O in case the elevator is a steam elevator, or it may be a clutch, or in the case of a hydraulic elevator the lever N may be connected with the main valve directly or with a pilot or other valve, controlling a hydraulic or other motor working the main valve as will be well understood.

The drawings, for convenience of illustration, show a steam elevator, with the throttle of the driving steam engine connected with and controlled by the compression chambers. The compression chambers B, C, and L, M, and the pipes F, G and I K are filled with a liquid, which may be water, but is preferably glycerine in order to avoid the danger of freezing. This will produce liquid columns in the flexible and rigid pipes between the movable heads, pistons or diaphragms of the chambers B, O, and the movopposite sides of one movable body, the expansion of one compression chamber causing or necessitating the contraction of its fellow compression chamber, similar to the action of a piston in a cylinder, which yas it travels enlarges the space behind it and narrows that v in frontof it. The changes in pressure caused by the movements of the elevator car are alike for both liquid columns, so that any increase of pressure of one column which would tend to move the operated body in one direction will be accompanied by a corresponding increase of pressure of the other column which will tend to move the operated body in the other direction, and hence no movement will take place, except such as is produced by shifting the liquid columns by means of the hand lever E. This hydraulic controlling apparatus it will be seen is simple and direct in its construction and action. By providing two compression chambers for each liquid column not connected except externally with the compression chambers of the other liquid column, leakage between the liquid columns and the consequent derangement of the adjustment is prevented, which would be an objection to the employment of a piston or diaphragm common to the two compression chambers at each end. This latter is a construction that might be employed within the scope of my invention, but it has the disadvantage referred to and therefore the construction shown is preferred. In this controlli-ng apparatus, it is desirable that the hand lever E on the car should be capable of a quickermovement than the liquid columns, so that there will be no danger of breaking or straining the apparatus should the hand-lever be thrown its full stroke by a rapid movement.' This necessitates a yielding or spring connection between the hand lever yand the liquid columns. The compression chambers B C being of elastic material may themselves by the stretching of their sides furnish this yielding connection if made light enough. However I prefer to employ a double spring connection between the hand lever E and the bar D which is connected with the movable heads of the compression chambers B, C. This is illustrated in Fig. 2. The -hand lever is not The connected directly with the bar D. An additional armfis connected with the bar D as' shown. The hand lever E is mounted to turn loosely on the pivot of the arm f and springs g g are located between lugs Zt h on lateral extensions of the hand lever'and the end of the arm f so that the hand lever will move the bar D through the springs g g and the yielding connection desired will be formed.

The coupling for joining the dexible tubes with the metal pipes at their ends is shown in section in Fig. 3. This is composed of two castings P, Q. The casting P has channels?. k through it into which the metal pipes are screwed. The casting Q has a single opening through it and a projecting nozzle Zover which the casing or covering H is drawn and to which it is secured by abindingmof wire. Therub ber tubes F Gr pass into the nozzle Z and are,

forced liquid tight against the walls of the nozzle Z and against each other by tapering thimbles n o which are driven in from the back of the cas-ting Q and are then dressed down to a true surface with the back of the casting.l The casting Q enters the casting P as shown and a suitable packing ring is placed between them, which makes the joint liquid tight when the flanges of the two castings are drawn together by the bolts p. It will be seen that the covering or casing is connected at the coupling so as vto take the strain while the function of the tapering thimbles is only that of making a liquid tight joint.

l. The combination with the moving elevator car, of two flexible liquid-pipes extending therefrom and inclosed byja flexible covering or casing, a coupling having two channels at each end connecting the flexible pipes with metal pipes, and a clamping wrapping for securing the iiexible covering or casing at each coupling so that such covering or casing will relieve the flexible pipes from strain, substantially set forth.

2. The combination with the coupling casting having a projecting nozzle with two channels therethrough and tapering thimbles within such channels, of the two flexible pipes entering such channels and clamped therein by the tapering thimbles, and the inclosing casing for such flexible pipes drawn over the nozzle and secured thereto, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 4th day of August, 1887 HENRY EIOHBAUM.

Witnesses:

H. W. SEELY, E. C. ROWLAND. 

